Divi Meetup Network Community Update: September 2019

Greetings Divi Community! Fall is here and the weather is gorgeous! At least for the time being.

As we gear up to attack Q4, I’d love your input to help the community out: what are some common challenges your community faces? Often business picks up making an extra effort in hosting our monthly events a must. One way we like to be intentional about making sure our meetups continue to take place is to change the traditional presentation format up. This is a good time to host a roundtable, or a Divi site show-and-tell, or even a Holiday Social. We know planning events takes time and effort so when the months get busy, allow yourself some flexibility on your meetup formats. Sometimes these meetup styles end up being incredibly beneficial to your community’s growth. What are some of the ways you get creative with your meetups when time is tight?

Feel free to jump down to the comments and answer any or all of these questions so we can share our community building lessons with each other.

Ok, on to the updates!

The Divi Nation Meetup Network by the Numbers

We’ve grown so much this year! And here are our latest stats to prove it…

Let’s Welcome Our New Meetup Groups

Please give a warm welcome to our new hosts! In September, we’ve had three more Meetup groups that have launched, and we’re pumped to introduce you to the hosts.

See below for introductions (in the host’s own words) and info on their next Meetups.

Divi Los Angeles, California, USA

Christian of Divi Los Angeles

Meet the host, Christian Mauerer:

Ex-Googler turned agency owner, Christian is the owner of Lovepixel, a full-service creative design agency. We build highly converting funnels/websites/brands that you fall in love with.
[I want] to connect individuals who change the world with design & Divi.

They’ve already had their first event
. Their next one
is on Thursday, October 24th. If you’re in Los Angeles, California, check them out!

Divi Seattle, Washington, USA

Shane of Divi Seattle

Meet the new co-host, Shane Griffiths:

Shane is a partner at Clarity Online, a Seattle-based WordPress SEO company. He started using Divi on day 1 and has since built hundreds of websites with it. Shane finds it’s often faster to rebuild a website properly with Divi that it is to fix it piece by piece. Ask him anything about local SEO, running a Divi agency, WordPress plugins, hosting, or speed optimization.
I am a board member for the Seattle Search Network, a Seattle Digital Marketing meetup. Many of us use Divi and we’re always trading tips, but we really want a group that’s dedicated to Divi. Seattle is very pro-networking and pro-sharing and I think a Divi group [is] a great fit. [I] like to influence the topics and discussions so new WordPress users can start adopting Divi and seasoned Divi users can learn more about advanced topics.

Divi Seattle
is already established but this addition to their leadership team is much welcomed. Be sure to join this group if you live in the Seattle area!

Divi Sacramento, California, USA

Rosalinda of Divi Sacramento

Meet the host, Rosalinda Huck:

I’ve been a front-end web designer at Marketing by Design since 2015, where I create websites solely in WordPress using the Divi theme. Divi’s evolution and improvements over the years weave into my own evolution as a designer. I see myself as having grown WITH Divi, and not just as someone in the industry who uses it as a website-building tool. I’ve enjoyed learning how best to incorporate all of Divi’s features, and how to apply my own knowledge of HTML and CSS to create visually attractive and user-friendly custom sites for our clients.
I’d like to make local connections with other Divi users in the area. While I’ve attended other WordPress-related groups and conferences, I feel like there needs to be an established, central group in the Sacramento area specifically for the local Divi Nation. I’d like to help make a Divi community available to foster support and creativity!

You gotta join this new Divi meetup in Sacramento if you live in the area! Their first event
is Thursday, November 14th. Be sure to RSVP.

Updates from Existing Groups

One of our favorite parts about actively building community is that you gain trusted relationships. When you authentically connect with a fellow attendee, the connection of trust sparks. Humans know when they’re being “sold” and they tend to be wary of that behavior. But when they trust that your connection is not based on any agenda, you gain a relationship. It might continue as an acquaintance or it could blossom into a wonderful friendship. It could even become a business connection where you gain a client or are hired for your services! Whatever the outcome, it’s a win-win for all when we actively build trust with our community.

Check out the monthly happenings of some of our communities below!

Divi Cape Town in South Africa

Divi Cape Town

From the Host, Tania Melnyczuk:

Divi Cape Town users Jonathan Bossenger, Philippe Sudan, and Tania Melnyczuk got together for a coworking morning at the Cup of Life Coffee Shop in Kuils River. The venue is quiet and prices are good. Several new members signed up for Divi Cape Town and we’re looking forward to the next meetup with a larger group.

If you’re a Divi user in the Cape Town, South Africa area, don’t hesitate to join this thriving meetup!

Divi Columbus, Ohio, USA

Divi Columbus

From the Host, Nathan B. Weller:

This month we had our third meeting of Divi Columbus. This time around our presenter was the ever-instructive Josh Hall of In Transit Studios. He presented, “7 Keys to Running a Successful Divi Business” and as he’s shown in his blog posts for Elegant Themes and his many Divi courses, he can be quite thorough! In short, it was an awesome night. We also got our first co-organizer! Donna Payne has been a joyful presence at all of our meetings so far and I’m thrilled she’s joining me as a local organizer.

The Columbus community continues to produce great content. Do check this group out!

Divi Cairo, Egypt

Divi Egypt

From the Host, Mohammad Sobhy:

So in our first meetup the topics that I had covered: Why create this meetup? What is WordPress? What are the builders? Why using these builders with a comparison between them? Then why I recommend the Divi Builder.

Some testimonials like:
“Very helpful, and I am kinda impressed by its features… Even if I am a Front End / WordPress Developer, I will give it a try! ”
“Thanks for Mohamed Sobhy’s time to present such a great meetup in Egypt!”
“Very good”
“it was a good session I learned a lot about Divi I loved it and I would like to continue learning”

The Divi Egypt community is eager to grow! Check out their enthusiasm for yourself!

Divi Gulfport, Mississippi, USA

Divi Gulfport

From the Host, Suzi Wilson:

We hold our meetings every other week at Barnes & Noble in Gulfport, Mississippi. Each week we try to implement one of the new features or recreate an effect from the Divi Blog. We also talk about what is coming up. The group is having fun with their projects. I have established a website for use by our members where they can play around with Divi features if they don’t have a copy of Divi for themselves. Here is a picture of our meeting last week.

This is a super active group! Don’t miss out on the knowledge-share and join them.

Divi Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Divi Las Vegas

From the Host, Bob Briare:

We had our third Meet-up. John was kind enough to show us his websites and how he uses Divi to build websites for the hospitality industry and also the website for a member of the United States Congress. He does great work and it was a joy to have him share.

Be sure to check out their Meetup page for details on their next event!

Divi Los Angeles, California, USA

From the Host, Christian Mauerer:

We had our FIRST Meetup in the Los Angeles Area – woohoo! [Three] people showed up. We had a great conversation getting to know each other/social mixer type. After that, we exchanged current projects & explored Oxygen VS. Divi and how it has a Theme builder which Divi does not have BUT it is scheduled to release in 2 weeks (October 17th). So excited for Divi 4.0 & what this meetup will bring.

Do you reside in the Los Angeles area? Get plugged in with this great Divi meetup!

Divi Mexico City, Mexico

Divi Mexico City

From the Host, Michel Jimenez:

We had our meetup on September the 5th, and we joined with a lot of enthusiastic web developers, graphic designers, and entrepreneurs from Mexico City. We talked about Divi, how it works with the sections, rows, and modules, and explored the many ways Divi have to create new web projects: layouts or design from scratch. The group is getting bigger and exciter, a lot of new experiences and solutions we talked about it, it improves our work in many ways!

The Mexico City attendees have so much enthusiasm. Be sure to join and catch it!

Divi New York City, USA

Divi NYC

From the Host, Patty Rose:

For our September Divi New York City Meetup we all met at and experienced WordCamp NYC 2019 together. It was a blast! We attended workshops, met with vendors, enjoyed lunch together, and of course, we chatted up all things on Divi and WordPress and tech and how-tos and topics of business on the web. Our group is full of fun, interesting, and supportive people from newbies, to developers, to designers, to agencies. Come join us for our next meetup! Have something Divi-mazing to present? Reach out to me on Meetup. Patty Rose

Be sure to check out their Meetup page for details on their next event!

Divi Owerri, Nigeria

Divi Owerri

From the Host, Hillary Goodness:

Divi Owerri held its meetup for the month of September on the 18th, 2019 and we discussed on How To Build and Design A Healthcare WordPress Website using Divi (elegant themes) which took place at the department of Optometry, in the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. It was really an eye-opening day for health students, professionals, and designers during which we had the presence of dignitaries like the HOD, course advisers, lecturers and medical directors in the health sector. At the end of the program, everyone was excited and interested in having their own healthcare website built with Divi (WordPress), thanks to Divi Nation.

Divi Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Divi Phoenix

From the Host, Raquel Landefeld:

We hosted two meetups this month. The first was a lunch-and-learn format in Downtown Phoenix and the second was hosted in Chandler. Our community now has 78 members and continues to grow. We now have new leadership adding to our team! Stay tuned for deets.

The organizers of Divi Phoenix are super eager to meet you! Don’t be bashful and come on out!

Divi Pune, Maharashtra, India

Divi Pune

From the Host, Sandeep Apte:

When two DIVI websites met on a DIVI date on September 21 @Starbucks. Aundh, Pune, INDIA.
Two DIVI beauties… met on an exciting DIVI date, flaunting their swag designs!
Meanwhile, their DIVI designers, Sunny (Sunil Joshi) & Sandeep Apte sipped tea … and chatted about their web design adventures and how their DIVI beauties could transform with DIVI 4.0! As the rains recede from Pune, we are looking forward to more DIVI beauties joining us in October, with their designers in tow! Come on DIVI Pune, let’s come together and show our web design swag to the world!

Our Divi Meetup presence is growing in India. Be sure to join this group!

Divi Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Divi Salt Lake City

From the Host, Dustin Olsen:

The Divi Salt Lake group is growing slowly, but gaining more and traction. We’ve already had meetups discussing things like Website Security and a Non-Designers Way to Optimize and Resize Images. Those who have come have loved the information and thrilled they’ve found the group. Our October meetup is an open forum and dedicated to answering questions about Divi. Can’t wait to see everyone there and geek out on Divi.

Divi Seattle, Washington, USA

Divi Seattle

From the Hosts, Bradon Garley & Shane Griffiths:

t’s only been a month and Divi Seattle already has 69 members! Our first Meetup was focused on getting to know our local Divi community and learning how our Meetup can best serve them. Attendees were a mix of writers, developers, and business owners who are all very eager to dig into advanced Divi topics and really build their skills. Our next Meetup is Wednesday, October 2nd. We’ll be giving a presentation on the new WooCommerce Builder.

Be sure to check Divi Seattle’s community out! Even if you’re visiting.

Want to Host Your Own Local Divi Network Meetup?

Great! We’re always on the lookout for people around the world who are passionate about Divi and building community and want to spread that enthusiasm to their local community. We take care of the monthly Meetup fees, and we provide all our hosts with tons of resources to help plan and promote their events, including help with finding a venue and coming up with topic ideas.

Starting a new Divi Meetup group is simple. Just apply by filling out this form
or email eventcoordinator@elegantthemes.com. Once the form is complete, we will work together to get your group launched and linked to our Meetup Network. Easy as that!

Not sure if there’s already a Divi Meetup Group in your area? Just head to our Meetup Network page to see a map of our current locations.